Unconquered: Allan Houser and the Legacy of One Apache Family
Contact: Dan Provo
(405) 522-5380
Michael Dean
(405) 522-5241
Oklahoma City, OK
October 21, 2008
For Immediate Release
On October 24, 2008, the Oklahoma History Center will open an important exhibit of art and artifacts that celebrates cultural survival and expression through generations of one Apache family, the Houser/Haozous family. The Inasmuch Foundation generously funded the project. Spanning the 1860's to 2008, the story takes visitors on a journey encompassing war, incarceration, and attempted cultural genocide as well as cultural and family survival, personal expression, and the strength of family legacies. Included are more than 80 pieces of sculpture, art, and artifacts.
The exhibit opens to the general public on Friday, October 24 and is scheduled to run through July 2009.
Part of the Inasmuch Foundation grant includes the acquisition of a new, permanent addition to the collections and to the grounds of the History Center. Great Spirit Buffalo II, bronze sculpture by Phillip Haozous, installed in July 2008, is now a part of the History Center outdoor interpretive experience. Another sculpture, yet to be determined, by Bob Haozous, will also be added to the permanent collections in the near future.
The exhibit experience begins outside the History Center's entrance, where Allan Houser's magnificent bronze sculpture titled Unconquered stands, facing the rising sun every day.
This exhibit also introduces OHS members and visitors to a new dimension of exhibit guide material. Beginning with the Houser/Haozous exhibit, the History Center will offer digital audio tour wands. Admissions desk staff will provide visitors with an exhibit guide and a digital audio wand that offer a point-to-point narrative tour of the exhibit. An early stop will be the Orientation Theater, inside the Inasmuch Gallery, where every hour viewers may watch a 30-minute High Definition film documenting the Houser/Haozous family.
Inside the Inasmuch Gallery visitors will find a large collection of Houser and Haozous art, artifacts, and interpretive panels. The exhibits' common thread is the story of Sam and Blossom Haozous, Allan's parents. Featured in the large area adjacent to the Nickelodeon Theater is an overview and chronology of the family, and an exploration of the creative process represented through the family's art. The exhibit continues in the OneOK gallery where the Houser/Haozous family speak of their experiences and visitors can view Apache related artifacts and sculptures. Located on the 3rd floor bridge of the history center are sculptures and interpretive panels focusing on the forced removal and incarceration of the Fort Sill Apache people as well as the business of art. As much as possible, the story is told through art, artifacts, photographs, interpretive panels and audiovisual components.
The lives and experiences of several members of the Houser/Haozous family are featured throughout the exhibit. These include Sam Haozous, grandson of Mangas Coloradas. Sam was born in 1868 near Warm Springs in New Mexico. Blossom White Haozous was born in 1893 at Mount Vernon Barracks in Alabama. Renowned artist Allan Houser, (1914-1994) eldest son of Sam and Blossom, was born near Apache, Oklahoma. Anna Marie Houser, wife of Allan and the daughter of a Spanish mother and a Navajo father, was born in northern New Mexico; and artist Phillip Haozous, son of Allan and Anna, was born in 1941 in Lawton, Oklahoma. Artist Bob Haozous, son of Allan and Anna, was born in 1943 in Los Angeles; and Stephen Houser, youngest son of Allan and Anna, was born in 1958 in Utah. Stephen Houser narrates the audio tour component of the exhibit.
Nine monumental bronze and steel sculptures are located along the Red River Journey, just outside the History Center along N.E. 23rd Street. One of these pieces, Lodge, by Bob Haozous, soars 35 feet into the air.
The exhibit will run through July 2009. For more information, contact Dan Provo at (405) 522-5380 or by email at dprovo@okhistory.org or Tara Damron at (405) 522.0784 or tdamron@okhistory.org.